Adrian Rondon Rumors

TODAY: The Rays will still face the full penalty for exceeding their pool money, explains Ben Badler of Baseball America. While Rondon’s signing did not push Tampa past its newly expanded allocation by itself, other international signings did. The acquisition will limit the overage tax owed by the club by about $1MM, however.

YESTERDAY: The Marlins have acquired right-hander Matt Ramsey from the Rays in exchange for international bonus money, tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Roger Mooney of the Tampa Tribune tweets that the Rays will acquire Miami’s second, third and fourth bonus slots, which add up to a total of $1,000,800, tweets Roger Mooney of the Tampa Tribune.

Subsequently, the Rays have officially announced the signing of top international prospect Adrian Rondon, with who the team reportedly agree to terms last week, for $2.95MM (Twitter link). The additional money acquired from the Marlins bumps Tampa’s international bonus pool to $2,998,900, meaning that the Rondon signing will not push them over their limit.

Ramsey, 24, is enjoying a dominant season at Double-A Montgomery, having pitched to a 1.07 ERA with 46 strikeouts in 33 2/3 innings. He’s had some control issues, walking 23 batters in that time. Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper tweets that Ramsey runs his fastball up to 95 mph with a power curveball.

Notable talent evaluators from the Rays and Cubs were recently on hand to watch Blue Jays prospect Daniel Norris throw five scoreless innings in a high-A ball start, Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun reports. Norris, 21, was a second round draft pick for the Jays in 2011 and was ranked as the franchise’s sixth-best prospect by the 2014 Baseball America Prospect Handbook. The southpaw has a 1.22 ERA, 4.22 K/BB rate and 10.3 K/9 in 13 starts this season, and Elliott wonders if Norris or outfielder Dalton Pompey could be targeted by the Rays or Cubs as part of a trade package for David Price or Jeff Samardzija this summer. Both Elliott and two scouts feel the Jays (who are known to be looking for a pitching upgrade) need a power arm to be legitimate postseason contenders.

Here’s some more from around the AL East…

Also from Elliott, he hears that the Cubs are asking for four players in return for Samardzjia. The Blue Jays had two evaluators present for Samardzija’s start against the Marlins on June 7th.

The Rays are “looking like the strong favorites” to sign 15-year-old Dominican shortstop Adrian Rondon, Baseball America’s Ben Badler reports, though Rondon cannot sign until he turns 16 on July 7. Rondon, who is 6’2″ and 180 pounds, is expected to sign for around a $3MM bonus. Several scouts consider Rondon to be the best prospect available on the international market, with one scout even telling Badler that Rondon’s upside could make him “a Hanley Ramirez-type of offensive shortstop.”

Nick Markakis “wants to play here for the rest of his life,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter told reporters (including MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko). The O’s have a $17.5MM club option on Markakis for 2015 that will very likely be bought out for $2MM, though Markakis’ strong play this season is putting him in good shape for a new multiyear contract.

The Orioles expect Dr. James Andrews to recommend that Matt Wieters‘ right elbow will require Tommy John surgery when the catcher is examined later today, Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun reports. Losing Wieters would obviously be a major blow to the O’s this season, and it would further complicate any plans they might have to sign Wieters to a contract extension (Wieters is under control through 2015).